The National Center for Educational Statistics reports that 15% of American school-aged children (3-21 years) require services like in-school therapies, self-contained classrooms, one-on-one aids or paras, and/or small group instruction. That equates to roughly 7.5 million students. In addition to these populations, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported staggering rates of student mental health diagnoses such as anxiety, depression, ADHD, and behavioral/self-control classifications. Schools need more support and this support needs to be dynamic — not unlike our student populations themselves.
Adding to this are the profound effects the pandemic had on education, and not just regarding student learning. Remote learning had lasting impacts on student’s social and emotional development which ultimately impact their ability not only to connect to school subjects, but also each other.
Education Flow is constantly engaged in research rooted in using music as an added intervention to support and enhance elements essential to every school such as:
Here at Education Flow, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation, we believe that music is the most underused resource in every school building in America. We actively engage in academic research to show how music can
- Enhance school therapies
- Support student learning and comprehension in other subjects
- Support student self-regulation
- Support teachers struggling with classroom management
We then use that research to create and develop teaching practices to help schools see how a reimagined idea of music (and their music educators) can support the overall sense of school well-being and create a healthy learning culture. Our work focuses on using music to help students connect to the daily functionality of school, each other, their teachers, aids, and therapists.
Music stimulates us socially, emotionally, physically, cognitively, creatively, and spiritually, and is the perfect tool to provide needed support to our schools. The best part is, music education (band, chorus, orchestra, general music) is an engrained part of our education system — and is an existing piece in most schools. At Education Flow, our work centers around expanding the idea of music in school beyond those traditional applications to support student’s social, emotional, cognitive and overall development. These, after all, are the connective tissue within school. Supporting them not only helps with student learning, but promotes a healthy climate in school buildings themselves.
In July of 2025 our Founder/Director, Patrick Cerria, will be a presenter at the International Conference of Dalcroze Studies at the University of Luxembourg. He will presenting the abstract of a new academic study he is working on with a fellow music researcher, Dr. Beatriz Ilari, at the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music.
In this study (scheduled to begin in the 2025/2026 school year) Patrick and Dr. Ilari will be integrating music and movement protocols (eurhythmics) into school provided speech therapies for children on the Autism spectrum. The goal of the study is to see if/how these integrations enhance therapies allowing further speech development.
Some of the other research and projects currently in development include:
The development and implementation of a music module into a high school math class for at-risk inner-city students to help student comprehension with formula and algorithmic concepts.
The development, writing, and illustration of a workbook to further enhance the above music module.
The development of a research design that will use music and movement (eurhythmics) interventions to enhance self-regulation protocols for students with behavioral and/or emotional classifications.
These projects are in an effort to support our broader mission which is to expand the idea of what music is in school. This research is supported through funding from foundations and grants as well as donations from people who believe in and share our vision.
Our ultimate drive is the betterment of education for every child and every type of learner. And we believe one of the best ways of achieving this is through academic research that supports student learning, and also supports teachers, classroom aids, and school therapists.
Education Flow is also active in bringing our ideas and practices directly to educators and education leaders albeit through education and academic conferences. Here is a list of some of the conferences we have presented at over the years:
In addition, we enjoy presenting staff development workshops in school districts or at state education conventions. Here's what attendees have said:
Here's a sample of what what teachers are saying about our staff development and conference workshops:
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